Matthew 15: 21-28
Offered at the Long Valley Presbyterian Church, August 16, 2026
Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA
First off, let me confess to you, I have dreaded preaching on this story in Matthew’s Gospel – this meeting between Jesus and the Canaanite Woman. Because, it had long been my misunderstanding that Jesus was being downright nasty to this woman.
This is not the Jesus that I knew from the gospels. The One who displays compassion not only to Jews but to the Samaritan woman he met at the well and to Gentiles when he cured the servant of the Roman Centurion who beseeched him.
This is not the Lord who had spoken through the prophet Isaiah and the minor prophets telling us clearly that God’s offer of reconciliation and salvation is to be offered to all the nations.
And it was because of my misunderstanding that I saw this Jesus, his attitude toward this Canaanite woman as not being the Lord and Savior that I love. I looked at this story in Matthew and wondered to myself, “Who is this guy?”
So, when this passage came up in the lectionary for today, I had a choice. I could skip over it and use something from another part of the lectionary; or I could deal with it. I could confront this different Jesus hoping the Holy Spirit would help me through my confusion and reveal to me why Jesus acted as he did.
To that end, I needed to do some digging. I went through William Barclay’s commentary, and several Ai commentaries. But the one that was most helpful was a YouTube channel entitled, “Deep Made Simple.” I found their commentary to be most helpful.
So, let’s get into it. Back at the opening of this chapter, the Pharisees and scribes go to Jesus and demand to know why he allows his disciples to break the traditions of the “elders”. That’s important – key in on that – the traditions of the elders. Jesus was allowing his disciples to eat without first going through the ritual cleansings that the traditions of the elders demanded. This was part of their on-going attempts to find fault in Jesus and to discredit him.
Jesus’ responds by immediately turning the tables on them. Jesus demands of them, “Why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your traditions?”
What is Jesus getting at here was the fifth commandment to “…honor your father and mother…” You see what the “elders” had done was to create a work around this commandment. It allowed them to say, “what I would have given to you, my parents, for your support, I have given to God, therefore I am absolved of the obligation to support you.”
Jesus calls them hypocrites and quotes Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; … teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
Do you get it? They were writing their own laws as a means of circumventing God’s commandments. So, Jesus throws it all back at them. Your elder’s tradition of ritual washing is hogwash. It’s superficial. It is meaningless to God.
Then Jesus says, “…it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but … what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
In plain talk, it is not what you eat that makes you unworthy. It is what comes out of your mouth. For what comes out of the mouth truly reveals what is in the heart. If what comes out are evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness and slander, then that is what defiles a person and makes them unworthy before God.
Now get this. Everything in the list that Jesus gives us are accusations he making against the religious elders. Because by withholding support and honor of their parents their evil intentions were exposed. They were stealing from their parents. By claiming that their traditions superseded God’s commandments they were bearing false witness. By claiming that their parents were not worthy of their support, they were slandering them.
All of this is the backstory Matthew uses leading up to Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman. So, let’s now look at that and how it happens.
Jesus has reached a point where he knows what lies ahead for him in Jerusalem. He knows of the plots to kill him and how the Pharisees are trying to entrap him.
But he cannot allow any of their plans to come to fruition just yet. He needs time to prepare his disciples for what is coming. He needs time to explain to them what God’s plan is and what their role in it will be. He needed time, peace and quiet away from the crowds who were constantly pressing in on him. He needed to be able to go to a place where he was unknown where he could have uninterrupted time with his disciples.
So, he leaves Judah where he had been dealing with ritualistic hypocrisy and goes to Canaanite territory. He goes to Tyre and Sidon – two infamous Biblical cities known for their sinful wickedness. But what surprises us in this story is what Jesus finds in this foreign Gentile land of sinfulness.
What develops in this story is a teaching opportunity. You will see that Jesus uses this confrontation with the Canaanite Woman to show to his disciples what their role in the salvation story will be.
As Jesus and his entourage are traveling into one of these cities, a Canaanite woman comes to them. She is calling out to Jesus for his attention, “Have mercy on me Lord, Son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon.” She is seeking healing.
Now observe what follows. Bible Scholars refer to it as the three “Nos”.
First, Jesus ignores the woman and refuses to acknowledge her petitions. The first No. This has always been difficult for me. God has told us that God will never ignore our petitions. So, why is Jesus?
The woman is persistent and Jesus’ disciples come to him and urge him to send her away. She is unruly and making a scene. Does this sound like a parable you should recall, the parable of the woman and the unjust Judge. In that parable, the woman is persistent and the unjust Judge ultimately yields to her demands.
We are told in that parable to keep coming to God in prayer and show determination and faith in our petitions. Whether the disciples urged Jesus because they understood this parable or because they just wanted to be rid of her is not clear. But Jesus responds to them.
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That’s “No”, number two.
Jesus is saying, I am the Messiah of God to the chosen people of God. I am not the Messiah to the Gentiles. Listen carefully here. Jesus is defining his role in the Salvation story. But at the same time Jesus is defining the disciples’ role in God’s Salvation plan.
In verse 25, “… the woman came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me.”
Now there is something we need to note here. Twice now the woman refers to Jesus as “Lord”; once as “Lord, Son of David.” She is addressing him by his Messianic title. This is not an ordinary pagan woman. In Mark’s gospel, she is referred to as a Syro-Phoenician woman. In fact, she is probably not Canaanite at all. Before the Romans, the Greeks had driven out the original inhabitants of Canaan and expelled them to Egypt. Syrians and Phoenicians under Greek influence had repopulated the land. This woman was probably educated and understood who the Jewish Messiah was, and she attributed respect in the way she addressed Jesus.
“Lord, Son of David.” She kneels at his feet. This is a position of humility. This is the right posture in which to approach God. This is in contrast to the haughty attitudes of the Pharisees who Jesus had accused of having the gall of writing their own human laws to supersede God’s Commandments.
To understand the meaning of this story, we have to see the contrast between the haughty attitudes of Israel’s religious leaders as they arrogantly approached their god and how this Canaanite woman in this land of wicked sinfulness approached Jesus whom she called Lord.
Jesus is trying to display to his disciples what faithful worthiness looks like.
OK. She’s got Jesus’ attention. She is prostrate at his feet and He responds to her.
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” This is the third No. This part of the exchange between Jesus and the woman has always troubled me.
But there are two things to be aware of here. First, the “children’s food” referred to here is the Word of God spoken through Scripture by the Holy Spirit to God’s chosen People.
Second, the word Matthew uses for “dogs” is a Greek word that does not refer to wild animals. Rather the word Matthew uses refers to domesticated household pets. This may not seem like much but watch how the woman uses it and how she answers Jesus.
She doesn’t take offense at Jesus’ remarks. She understands the distinction between who she is and who the Messiah was sent to. She responds.
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”
This woman is sharp. She understands that Jesus is Lord, Son of David. That he is the Messiah of Israel. She understands the priority of the order of Salvation. Salvation will come from the Jews and then go out to the Gentiles.
She immediately points out to Jesus that the children of Israel are allowing crumbs of the Word of God to fall from the Master’s Table to the floor.
This reflects back directly upon the “Elders” and their defilement of God’s Commandments and their refusal to repent and accept Salvation on God’s terms.
This Canaanite Woman is asking for nothing more than those crumbs that the children of God are allowing to fall to the floor. She accepts the order of Salvation. She accepts that Jesus, Lord, Son of David is the Messiah to the Jews. But she knows deep in her Faith that there is more to him and to God’s Salvation plan.
Jesus responds to her, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”
A couple of things here. First, the Greek word that Jesus uses for “Woman” is the same word that he had used when his mother came to him at the wedding feast at Cana. “Woman, it is not yet my hour.” The word used for “woman” in both instances is a compassionate word.
Next, “Let it be done for you as you wish” …that is not only that her daughter be freed from her demon. But also, that the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table be shared with you, as well. Jesus is saying to her, to his disciples and to us, …let Salvation go from the Jews to all of the peoples of the world.
This is how Jesus was revealing to his disciples what their role in God’s salvation plan would be. This is why he left the land of ritual hypocrisy to travel to a land where he could find worthiness and show his disciples what great faith looked like.
Yes. Salvation would be offered to the Jews first but then it would go out to the Gentiles. That was the role the disciples would play. But Salvation would not be based on position, prestige or ritual cleanliness. Salvation would be based upon faith, humility and the persistence of that faith. Not faith that demands salvation on its own terms but faith that is humble and persistent even when there is no initial response.
The three “Nos” that the woman initially received from Jesus were not doors being closed to her. They were steps meant to bring here closer to the healing she desired.
Have you ever felt that your prayers have gone unanswered? That all you hear from God is silence. My friends, don’t think for a moment that God is closing a door to your petitions. Instead view the silence as an opportunity to build greater faith. View it as a steppingstone to greater healing. Understand that it isn’t that God is not hearing your prayers. It is that God is using the time to build greater faith in you. God is working to bring you closer to healing and salvation.
May it be so.
